Author: robertjames1971

I'm wicked tall.

Today’s Daily Writing Prompt Revisited

I answered today’s daily writing prompt this morning before work, as I normally do. Now I am going back to it with a second post. This isn’t really about writing, it’s just an excuse to post pictures.

What is good about having a pet?

The answer is simple: Cuteness overload.

Miss Lily Pad
Miss Robin Sparkles

I mean, really… what more do you need? Go adopt a cat or two. Or three. Meow, babie.

No Word Yet

No word from the guitar shop today. The guitar looked finished in the pics he put on the bookfayce yesterday but I couldn’t really tell. There was likely some finishing work that needed to happen (file down, polish, adjust the new frets maybe?) that I don’t know anything about. Hopefully I will hear something tomorrow. I can’t pick it up on Wednesday as I’ll be in the office. I don’t even know if he opens his doors on any other days. His website books appointments on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Let’s see what happens, okay?

Two things that I need to do today. One, call a plumber to look at a leak in the old bathroom. Two, I have a doctors appointment after work. I also have 3.5 hours left in my work day. I am just wrapping up lunch now.

Harry is coming home this weekend. How awesome is that? Looking forward to having him around. Also really looking forward to Thanksgiving. The actual holiday we will travel to my sisters’. The following Saturday we will have Thanksgiving Part II (electric turkey boogaloo) with the kids and Jen’s folks. I am really excited about both. Not that I can eat like I used to, but I’ll still love every minute of both days.

When are we going to go Christmas tree shopping? We usually try to do that while the kids are home for Thanksgiving, but I don’t know how the schedules will work out this year. We’ll have to figure that out too.

Have I mentioned that I am absolutely freezing today? Stupid cold. Stupid winter (even though we’re still over a month away from the first day of winter, it’s basically winter already).

Okay. Lunch break is over. Get back to work, Robert. You have some custom code to deliver. Get to it.

(Sort of Almost) Daily Haiku for You #82

I forgot to write a haiku for you yesterday. Sorry about that. I better make today’s a good one… though I probably won’t because they are all really dumb.

I am freezing cold.
It’s not even December.
Winter is a prick.

Fear the Walking Exposition

I am going to talk about how awful last night’s episode of Fear the Walking Dead was… again. I don’t think I am going to spoil anything because nothing happened so there was nothing to spoil, but if you’re watching the show and haven’t seen last night’s episode you should probably stop reading.

I’ll give you a second to decide.

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Okay… so… When I was in college I took a creative writing course. I had one phrase drilled into my tiny little brain: Show Don’t Tell. When you’re writing, don’t tell the readers what’s happening, show them. Describe the events as they happen, don’t just have the characters say what’s going on.

The writers of last night’s episode never took that creative writing class. Basically the entire episode is Tell Don’t Show. It’s about 40 minutes of exposition. That is inexcusable in any television situation, but here? There are only two more episodes in the entire series after last night, and they spent 40 minutes on exposition?

They also introduced new characters last night. Really. A whole new group. The story tells us that they met a major character last season… after the actor left the show and was supposed to be dead… What. The. Fuck?

Every week I say that the new episode is as bad as it could possibly get. Every week’s new episode tops the prior week in terribleness. Once again, this is the worst episode imaginable. Unforgivably bad.

The Upside of a Pet

What is good about having a pet?

Daily writing prompt

The real question should be what isn’t good about having a pet? Assuming your pet is a cat. I mean, dogs and fish and hamsters and llamas and alpacas and potbellied pigs and all are fine as pets, but cats… cats are the best.

Cats don’t give their love unconditionally. You need to earn it. You need to be the best human you can be to have a cat respect you. That’s the way it should be. Sure, feeding them and changing their litter helps, but it’s attitude too. You do right by them and they’ll sit on your lap and let you pet them and they will rub against your feet while you’re standing around (that is literally the best).

There are downsides too. They are expensive. They require a lot of work. They run around the house like maniacs and mess things up and break stuff. It’s all worth it though, especially for those one or two minutes a year when they let you pet their bellies.

Go adopt a cat from your local animal shelter. We have two and we’re sort of thinking about getting a third (not really, but really… would one male cat in the house calm down the fighting between the two female cats, or would it make things worse?). Don’t think about it… just do it. Adopt a cat.